VCU Brandcenter Sparks Global Initiative to Show Support for Japanese Disaster Recovery

By Tom Gresham

It has been four months since the tragic Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, but a contingent of VCU Brandcenter students has developed a poignant reminder for the Japanese people that the world has remained mindful of their distress and suffering.

STILLforJAPAN, a global initiative, will launch today at 1 p.m. with a video message displayed on a prominent Clear Channel Spectacolor HD digital billboard in New York City’s Times Square. The message will help bring attention to the STILLforJAPAN website, http://www.still4japan.com/, where people from around the world can visit to observe “A Moment of Stillness.” At the website, visitors will demonstrate their support for the Japanese people by leaving their computer still and inactive for one minute. The simple act will serve as a sign of compassion.

“We really want to make a positive impact on Japan and let them know that the world is still with them,” said Paul Davis, one of the STILLforJAPAN organizers and a rising second-year creative brand management student in the VCU Brandcenter. “Sometimes, the most comforting thing is to know you’re not alone. When we launch this, Japan will know that.”

VCU Brandcenter director Rick Boyko said, “Disasters often make the news for a few days and then we forget. We want Japan to know that in this global universe, one country suffering such an enormous devastation is still remembered.”

The first goal of the campaign is to accumulate 187,439 minutes of stillness, each minute representing one of the victims of the earthquake and tsunami who suffered death or injury or who went missing, became homeless or were exposed to radiation. The next goal will be to reach 1,031,704 minutes, matching the number of residents of the Sendai Prefecture, the area of Japan hit hardest by the disaster. Finally, organizers hope to stage a worldwide moment of stillness on March 11, 2012, the first anniversary of the disaster.

The billboard launch was enabled in part by Clear Channel’s willingness to provide the valuable time on the board for the project, as well as to provide 25 minutes of radio time to promote the launch. Davis and fellow Brandcenter students Andrew Quay, Ernesto Campabala, Jake Mitchell and Amy Matheu conceived the billboard message and the STILLforJAPAN website with help from McKinney, an advertising agency where Davis, Mitchell, Wood and Matheu are serving as interns this summer.

The STILLforJAPAN campaign promises to attract considerable attention in Japan. TV networks from the country will cover the launch of the campaign, including conducting interviews with Brandcenter students involved in the project. In addition, Brandcenter students Sarah Kraus and Joe Hall created a commercial promoting the campaign that will air on Japanese television. The spot, which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/user/StillforJapan, was produced by Mirada/Motion Theory with original music by Michael Montes of Sacred Noise.

The campaign originated when Kaeda Seville, a Japanese freelance writer and friend of the Brandcenter, contacted Boyko a few weeks after the earthquake and tsunami struck. Seville wondered if there was an avenue for the Brandcenter to help deliver a message of hope to the Japanese people. Boyko contacted the entire roster of Brandcenter students, letting them know that anyone interested in participating could present their ideas to members of the VCU Brandcenter Board of Directors on March 31. Six teams presented their campaign ideas. The STILLforJAPAN idea emerged as a particularly strong one to pursue.

“Our students loved working on this project and have, I believe, created a beautiful campaign,” Boyko said.